Creative Corner

[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798146116188766211/850797916339568691/Kjallabaiheader.png[/img] The ancient [color=#5c2119][b]Kingdom of Kjallabai[/b][/color] encompasses a swathe of territory in the southeast Sunbeam Ruins. Its eternal capital city, [color=#5c2119][b]Kjalla[/b][/color], lies on an island in the center of a river in a deep valley. Throughout its history, [color=#5c2119][b]Kjalla[/b][/color] has been many things; an economic hub, a center of culture, and a largely abandoned ruin, but no matter its state at any particular point in history, the heart of the Kingdom is always home to storied figures and events. Reserve - Intro and contents[/center]

[center][map x=3826 y=2412 view=land width=480 height=240]Kjalla[/map] [font=high tower text][size=7][b][color=#5c2119][b]Districts of Kjalla City:[/b][/color][/b][/size][/font][/center] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/76.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Inner City[/b][/color][/b] The portion of Kjalla built atop the island. The most notable structures in this area include the Bougainvillea Palace, where the king, queen, or steward typically resides, and the lush Garden District surrounding the palace, home to much of the Kingdom's nobility. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/48.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Cliff District[/b][/color][/b] Great bridges, marvels of magic and engineering from the city's golden age, connect the Inner City with the Cliff District, carved directly into the steep sides of the deep valley in which the city rests. This region is home to the grand Temple of the Lightweaver in its highest levels, and the dwellings of many of Kjalla's more humble inhabitants lie within the cliffs closer to the bottom of the valley. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/60.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Riverdock District[/b][/color][/b] Surrounding the edge of the Inner City island are the bustling shipping and market districts, where goods from the Sea of a Thousand Currents and Lanternlea Port come and go. Here, residents of Kjalla from all walks of life come together to haggle at market stalls for food and luxury goods from across Sornieth. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/30.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Outer City[/b][/color][/b] All travellers to Kjalla must pass through these suburbs of ramshackle homesteads and villages surrounding the trails that descend down the cliffs to reach the city proper. These outskirts are considered much more dangerous than Kjalla itself, but the residents, who largely consist of travelling merchants, archaeologists, farmers, and hunters, are proud of their tenacity in contrast to their 'soft' Inner City cousins. [/columns] [center][font=high tower text][size=7][b][color=#5c2119][b]Noteworthy Locations of Kjalla City:[/b][/color][/b][/size][/font][/center] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/79.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Bougainvillea Palace[/b][/color][/b] This elegant complex, once home to great kings and queens, lies at the highest point of the city. It is open in design, with extensive networks of arch-framed balconies surrounding it on all sides to overlook the island below. Once upon a time, the palace was elaborately decorated with lush greenery and ornate gemstone inlays, but it has largely fallen into ruin. It is now the residence of the steward's family and a small number of staff. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/cms/trinket/15585.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]Temple of the Lightweaver[/b][/color][/b] Carved into the highest level of the red cliffs surrounding the city, this temple is connected directly by bridge to the Garden District. Skylights bored through the vaulted stone roof provide a passage for brilliant beams of light to enter and illuminate the various marble statues within, including an enormous likeness of the Lightweaver. The temple is overseen by the cunning High Priestess and Priest. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/layout/lair_icons/64.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]College of Aurumancy[/b][/color][/b] This university from the oldest days of the city is located in the Garden District, and was built as a facility where Kjalla's cherished aurumancers could teach, refine, and experiment with their gold-enhanced sorcery. Few aurumancers remain in the city now, and the complex is largely dilapidated as a result. [/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/cms/trinket/21407.png[/img][nextcol] [b][color=#5c2119][b]The Gilded Archive[/b][/color][/b] Located adjacent to the College of Aurumancy, the Gilded Archive is the library in which many of the city's precious documents reside, though copies of some are also located in the palace vault. Histories and administrative documents of Kjallabai sit alongside epic sagas and romantic poems in the archives' vast shelves. The Kjalla-born elite are fiercely protective of the archive, and insist that the steward and his staff always be accompanied by a representative of their choice when visiting it. [/columns]

[center][Font=High tower text][size=7][size=5][b][color=#5c2119][b]History of Kjallabai[/b][/color][/b][/font][/size][/size][/center] [center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798146116188766211/852135399153074176/kjallabaiarmsfinal.png[/img][/center] The crest of Kjallabai is a homage to the establishment of the kingdom. It depicts a bronze veilspun, the original aurumancer, and a red imperial, the first king. The parchment in the center of the shield represents the importance placed on scholarship by the founders; they believed that a powerful nation depended on innovation in science and the arts. The symbol at the center of the parchment, a simplified alchemical symbol for gold, represents the reverence of the kingdom's people for gold, which they consider to have incredibly powerful magical properties on account of its alchemical purity. [center][Font=High tower text][size=7][size=5][b][color=#5c2119][b]Culture of Kjallabai[/b][/color][/b][/font][/size][/size][/center] [center][Font=High tower text][size=7][b][color=#5c2119][b]Inhabitants[/b][/color][/b][/font][/size][/center] Though all dragons are welcome and reside in Kjallabai, the population noticeably largely consists of imperials, pearlcatchers, and veilspuns. While this is partly due to the location of the city-state in the traditional homeland of the pearlcatchers and imperials, it is also thought that many of the original residents of Kjalla were relatives of the first king and aurumancer, to whom many of the city's most influential families trace their lineage. Even without a direct blood relationship to the original aurumancer, veilspun have made up a majority of Kjallabai's most powerful sorcerers in history on account of their natural affinity for magic. [center][Font=High tower text][size=7][b][color=#5c2119][b]Aurumancy[/b][/color][/b][/font][/size][/center] The Kingdom of Kjallabai is most famous for its gold sorcerers. To the dragons of Kjalla, gold isn't simply a sign of wealth; it is a means to conduct incredibly powerful sorcery augmented by the alchemical purity of Kjallan gold. The nobility of the kingdom often filigree or plate their scales in the precious metal to mark themselves as skilled magic users. Though truly talented aurumancers are few and far between, they are capable of incredible feats of sorcery, including raising great monuments from the earth, imposing powerful curses or blessings on the lives of others, and besting enemies more powerful than entire clans. Kjallan researchers have written that aurumancy is an augmentation of a dragon's natural elemental magic; skilled aurumancers are able to project their magic into particles of particularly pure gold abundant in the valley, which then amplifies the magnitude of the sorcerer's magical energy. Because of this, aurumancy is strongest within Kjallabai itself, where the gold is purest, and aurumancers rarely leave Kjalla to practise their magic elsewhere.

[center][font=high tower text][size=7][b][color=#5c2119][b]Inhabitants:[/b][/color][/b][/size][/font] [b]See bios for full lore[/b][/center] [columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65956099][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/659561/65956099p.png[/img][/url][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65956099][b][color=#5c2119][b]Von[/b][/color][/b][/url] Though not currently living in the city, Von's history is deeply interwoven with that of Kjalla. A warrior from the end of Kjallabai's golden age, Von instigated, somewhat unwittingly, the fall of the Kingdom's last royal house. As a result, he was cursed with immortality until the throne of Kjalla was restored to the fallen Queen's line. He has wandered Sornieth for centuries in search of a blood relative of the royal house.[/columns] [columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/67244414][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/672445/67244414p.png[/img][/url][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/67244414][b][color=#5c2119][b]Maur Redtail[/b][/color][/b][/url] A wealthy merchant from Lanternlea Port, Maur bought the position of Steward of Kjallabai from the previous steward with the goal of revitalizing the now ruined city into a hub of commerce. However, upon arriving in Kjalla, he and his mate Irania have had to contend with its inhabitants hostility towards outsiders, and strange, inexplicable magical phenomena.[/columns] [columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65499774][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/654998/65499774p.png[/img][/url][nextcol][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65499774][b][color=#5c2119][b]Irania Redtail[/b][/color][/b][/url] Born into a family of Lanternlea nobles who trace their lineage back to Kjallabai, Irania cares surprisingly little for the city compared to her mate. Instead, she would prefer to return to her cosmopolitan home, and remember Kjalla only as the fantasy city from her childhood fairytales.[/columns] [columns][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/69818004][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/698181/69818004p.png[/img][/url][nextcol][b][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/69818004][color=#5c2119][b]Alesinde[/b][/color][/b][/url] Daughter of the Redtail merchants, Alesinde was eager to leave behind Lanternlea, feeling as if she never quite fit in. Now in Kjalla, she has begun to have eerie, vivid dreams about strange events taking place in the ruined city's streets, and her curiosity has driven her to seek answers about the city from its Kjallan-born inhabitants.[/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/630856/63085590p.png[/img][nextcol][b][color=#5c2119][b]Maria[/b][/color][/b] WIP[/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/530872/53087130p.png[/img][nextcol][b][color=#5c2119][b]Virgil[/b][/color][/b] WIP[/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/664382/66438164p.png[/img][nextcol][b][color=#5c2119][b]Orpheus[/b][/color][/b] WIP[/columns] [columns][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/681013/68101225p.png[/img][nextcol][b][color=#5c2119][b]Solanum[/b][/color][/b] WIP[/columns]